The Firelord's Honor

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The ferry ride to Ba Sing Se was miserable. Toph had never liked sea travel but it was Katara who was truly suffering this time. Apparently the minute sway of the large craft aggravated her already weak stomach. It was weird for a waterbender to be so bothered by the motion of her element. The rest of their group rather enjoyed the pleasant weather and new people. King Bumi had seen that they had all the necessary papers to get passage into the city and Toph was thankful they didn't have to navigate Serpent's Pass again.

Resting back against her palms on the deck, Toph tried to feel for Katara's double pulse. It was the groan instead that alerted her to her friend's presence beside her.

"How much longer before we reach the city? I don't have anything left to puke up and I can't stand the thought of food."

"Don't worry Sweetness, we should be docking soon. Personally I'm not looking forward to the crowds after so long on the road avoiding towns. Oh well. The place we were staying at in the upper ring is fancy I guess. Not that it matters to me what it looks like." Katara didn't respond to her attempt at humor so she had to assume she was laughing silently. "I don't like boat rides either. Hey maybe once we're there Gramps will have heard something about Sparky and your brother. Staying away from large towns was good for avoiding attention but shit for getting news."

Katara sighed and leaned against the wall behind them. They sat quietly for nearly an hour until they started to hear the commotion as the ferry pulled into dock. She stood and turned to Katara and stuck out a hand. "Come on Sweetness, let's get off this rocking tub." Katara only groaned as she grabbed her hand and let her haul her to her feet.

They shuffled along the deck towards the exit, following the flow of refugees. Before she could pick out any of her family, Katara bumped into a chatty older Earth Kingdom man and his son who were talking in serious voices about the fire nation. Katara subtly leaned her head in their direction so she could hear better over the crush of people disembarking.

"Anyway it's like I said, now that he's out of the way, old Ozai will likely be too distracted trying to sire a new heir now that his son is dead to be too much bother to us for a while. I hear his new Fire Lady is hardly older than the prince was. He probably doesn't leave his bed chamber these days!" The prince was dead? What prince? He was not talking about Zuko. He wasn't. She interrupted the older man's quiet laughing with a shaking voice.

"Excuse me... who are you talking about? Who is... What were you saying about Ozai?"

The two men shared a nervous glance before the younger one answered her.

"Haven't you heard? The Fire Nations traitor prince is dead apparently."

No.

"According to the Fire Lord's propaganda machine, some colonial mercenaries done him in over north of Omashu a couple weeks ago."

No it wasn't true.

"Here, these were recently posted all over the colony we've come from. Story's all there. Such a shame too. Personally I'd hoped he'd kill his father and take over. Figure he's a traitor for a reason, right? I bet he would have been less crazy than anyone else in that family at least."

He handed Katara a creased notice from a pocket in his tunic. Unfolding it, the first thing she noticed was the image of Zuko from his wanted posters. As she ran a finger over his face, her chest squeezed painfully and her breathing came short and shallow. Her eyes moved over the words, belatedly realizing she should read it allowed for Toph but unable to do so.

The disgraced Prince Zuko, traitor son of the Fire Nation has been brought to justice at last. The mercenary Jiang of the colonies has been credited with this victory. Prince Zuko was hunted down just northwest of Omashu and burned to death in a raging forest fire caused by the firebending mercenary. The water tribe scum he traveled with was also killed.